While you can't use the motors 1:1 from what I understand a lot of the development of VFD AC motors happened in the locomotive space[1]. The traction of a DC d

While you can't use the motors 1:1 from what I understand a lot of the development of VFD AC motors happened in the locomotive space[1]. The traction of a DC drive vs AC drive is significantly different(the below article cites at least 2x better for AC) in part due to the fact that a DC motor will "run away" once it breaks the static friction limit where a VFD(holding a fixed frequency) will self-correct as the wheel overspeeds and is slowed down by the other side of the magnetic field. Since most EVs use AC VFD a lot of that same development can be applied in traction applications. [1] http://www.republiclocomotive.com/ac-traction-vs-dc-traction.html http://www.republiclocomotive.com/ac-traction-vs-dc-traction...